Vala grew up in the farm behind her hotel, a few miles outside of Hofn. The eastern Icelandic winds blow through here and guests wake up to a field, endless sky and snow. At reception, guests sign in or enter the breakfast room beside a portrait of…
There are some places on earth that appear otherworldly. If you are silent and see, you can hear the echoes of lands we didn't know existed. These were taken within 30 feet of each other and within 20 minutes. How different. Eastern Iceland.…
We stand on the side of the road in darkness, the Icelandic wind whirring in my hat and hood. It is dark, and before the guys saw aurora but now it is gone. There are some green hues behind the clouds that rolled in. We wait. Some moments later,…
I boarded the plane from Iceland to Germany last year exhausted, my final stop on the round-the-world journey. Two guys sat next to me. They looked exhausted, too, and carried tripods. "You photographers?" That was a year ago this month…
This is Matt Hutchinson, the SUNY Geneseo student who was murdered this past weekend at the college. I know him. Or knew him. The news is everwhere, even CNN: He was at his friend's house. The ex boyfriend came in and stabbed them before stabbin…
Daisy steps out, Duke darting out with a bark to see who’s coming. On the front door is a black wreathe carefully wrapped in gold ribbon, opening to a living room in black and reds. It’s the same frame, but on the inside? Her home is all new. Katri…
Field reports from Biloxi, Miss.* It’s 9 a.m. and the steps to The Micah Center are full of people, waiting. It’s been unusually cold here for January, and a day since anyone could get a shower. Here, the homeless of Biloxi can get a shower, pick…
Fifty-three years. That’s how long the Virgin Mary has protected Dolores Barras, through storms and hard times and even Hurricane Katrina. Houses flooded, graves were uprooted in the memorial cemetery and caused destruction all over Biloxi. “But M…
Mike Meyer, of Ohio, has been a volunteer construction leader with his church for the Back Bay Mission since 2001, including sleeping in a parking lot to help immediately after Katrina. He’s working with our group for the week. “My first experien…
